The Queen In Shining Armor And The Savior In Distress
by RcK
Summary: Waking in a strange room in a strange village, Regina quickly finds herself on a quest to save one Miss Emma Swan. But where on earth are they, and just how are they supposed to get back home? AU SwanQueen
1. Chapter 1 - The Sleeping Savior p1

**A/N: wow, okay, trying to do good, yeah. Anxious to hear your thoughts on this, actually... Hope you'll like. I'm trying to stay true to the original characters, so if you feel I'm sliding a bit and someone feels OOC, pray tell.**

**summary:** Waking in a strange room in a strange village, Regina quickly finds herself on a quest to save one Miss Emma Swan. But where on earth are they, and just how are they supposed to get back home? AU SwanQueen

**disclaimer:** If I owned OUaT, no one would've had any doubts that Swan Queen is endgame. Sadly, it's not up to me to make that happen.

**The Sleeping Savior - part 1**

* * *

Regina opened her eyes to look at an unfamiliar ceiling. It wasn't the slightly off-white color she was so used to seeing, in fact it was made from wood. The Evil Queen blinked a few times, hoping her eyes were playing tricks on her as she thought back over the last 24 hours.

Yesterday was a rather normal day, as far as she could recall. She had picked Henry from school, ate her regular lunch at Granny's, kept her emotions in check whenever she laid eyes on Robin and Roland and that _wife _of his. All in all it was a perfectly normal day that ended with her driving her son to his other mother's house before tucking herself to sleep in her own queen sized bed in her lovely room inside her mayoral mansion.

The wooden ceiling did not disappear as the gears in her head continued spinning, trying to figure out where in the world she had found herself waking up at.

After a few more minutes Regina concluded she would not find the answer while lying in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room, and so she got up and for the first time she had looked around her at the room itself.

It was a fairly simple room made of worn wood. A simple single bed sporting the indentation of Regina's body formerly lying in it. Next to the only door in and out of the room stood a humble vanity table, and almost exactly opposite it was the room's only window. Regina approached the window and searched the view for clues to her location, what she saw however completely unnerved her.

She was in a village in the middle of a clearing, thick green trees as far as the eye could see stood tall and proud behind wooden houses. She saw the smiling faces of people dressed in what she could only call simple rags, walking to and fro around the part of this village that she could see from her small window. Regina raised her eyes, trying to find the end of this forest before her, and upon seeing a worn down castle on a hill in the distance a small gasp escaped her throat and her eyes opened in surprise.

"_Oh, no…" _the Mayor whispered as she stepped away from the window, one hand instinctively rising to stand upon her chest in a semi protective manner, "_the enchanted forest..?" _Regina closed her eyes as she shook her head from side to side slowly, trying to make sense out of all of it.

It was then that she noticed her cloths for the first time. She was dressed in a simple faded green tunic and brown wool trousers. As her eyes kept scanning the room in search of more fitting clothing for a Queen-turned-Mayor such as herself, she noticed a dismantled silver armor, completed with a shield and a sword, sitting in the far corner of the room. By its side lay a large, double pocketed, leather riding satchel with her initials stitched on its corner.

"_Oh, please." _Regina snorted as she made her way towards what appeared to be _her _armor and belongings on the floor, stopping in her tracks only when she noticed the crest painted on the shield. "_God, please tell me that that is _**not** _what I think it is." _In shades of purple and a sort of yellowy white a picture of a swan wearing a crown was painted upon the silvery shield. Regina couldn't help frowning at that crest. She closed her eyes and took a few long breaths that ended with a sigh when she heard a strong knock at her door.

Regina turned in her place to look at the door as a sharp "come in," left her lips on instinct. She watched as the door tentatively opened and a broad shouldered man entered the small room.

"Lady Regina, your stallion is ready to leave for the king's castle at once," the man spoke with a gentle – but urgent – tone, indicating with his eyes to the castle Regina saw through her window. "Do you require assistance donning your armor?" the man asked as he took a small step towards her and pointed at the silver at her feet.

"No," Regina said quickly before considering the question, she cleared her throat quickly to reconsider her answer, adding "no, I believe I can manage."

The man just nodded and turned to leave, pausing at the door and throwing her one more look as he added "I'll be outside when you are ready to leave, milady."

Regina turned back to the satchel and the armor on the floor as the man closed the door. She leaned down to open the satchel up and looked through its contents.

Food rations for several days, two full water canteens, what appeared to be a diary with a charcoal pencil tied to it and a rolled parchment. Ignoring the voice in her head telling her to hurry and complete her task, Regina reached for the parchment and opened it. As she read it a frown has etched itself on her brow.

The parchment was a simple call for a brave knight to lift a sleeping curse from a princess kidnapped by the evil maleficent. Regina grimaced at the drawing of much younger woman whom she could recognize anywhere, there was no mistaking those golden curls and green-blue eyes. Regina thought she even looked a tiny bit like Snow White.

"_Emma Swan, what the hell have you got us into this time?" _she whispered angrily into the air. Returning the parchment to the satchel, Regina decided to follow her quest as intended, shoving down that small flutter at her stomach that appeared whenever she thought of one Miss Swan.

* * *

Regina finished pulling the armor over her after about forty minutes has passed, she continued to try and think on how this situation came to be all the while. The penny has finally dropped as she was securing the scabbard to her hip.

"_A curse?" _Regina hissed, "_Must be." _She continued muttering to herself as she absent-mindedly slid the shield on her left arm and picked the satchel in her right. "_Did someone curse us, maybe she touched something inside Rumple's shop…" _Regina exited the room and didn't even take in the rest of the house she was in as she remained lost in her thoughts on the matter. "_Got to ask Emma when I'll see her." _Regina started to feel angry at the thought until she heard a familiar voice call her name.

"Lady Regina!" It was the same man who had walked into her room earlier. Regina looked up in his direction, and watched him walk towards her, the reins of a large white stallion in his arm.

"_You have got to be kidding me." _The absurdity of this – whatever this situation was – has finally reached her as she smirked at the thought of literally being a knight in shining armor, riding a white horse, all in order to go and save Princess Emma Swan. The man took the satchel from her hand in exchange for the horse's reins, moving to secure it to the saddle. She patted the stallion muzzle until she saw the man move. With his help, she climbed onto the horse's back. "Thanks." She muttered at the man and took another glance at the castle in the distance, pointing her stallion in that direction.

Regina managed to suppress a roll of her eyes as she started her horse towards a road that was hidden from her view until now, letting a quiet whisper of "_coming to save you, Miss Swan. As per usual." _Escape her lips. She tried to ignore the fact that the entire village came to watch her depart, expecting scared faces that came to view the Evil Queen. Regina really wasn't expecting to start to hear cheers, or cries of "good luck, Lady Regina!" She even caught a few children gasping "Miss Swan Knight..!" in awe. Regina grinned in amusement, feeling slight warmth inside her chest.

Hearing those kids reminded her of Henry.

"Oh, Henry…" she allowed herself a small moment of fear as she felt a small lump in her throat forming at the thought of her son. "I hope you're safe, because I'm coming home as soon as possible." She declared quietly to herself. "Just need to save your other mother first." She frowned, knowing that even if she how to reverse this curse – or whatever else this was – without Emma's help, she would still have to go and get her. For Henry's sake.

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**A/N#2: So, now that you've made it through to the end, I can clear my guilty conscience and tell you that this is my first try at OUaT fan fiction. However, I'm not new to writing. Also, not my first fanfic, just the first published here.  
Now, as for the second apology, English is not my native language, so I promise I won't be touchy on any and all corrections you deem needed.**

**And to end on a bright note, I highly appreciate any and all reviews. I will be very glad to hear if you want me to continue writing this, though I suppose I will be at the very least have one or two more chapters on this first story arc. I'll be shutting up now. Bye.**


	2. Chapter 2 - The Sleeping Savior p2

**A/N:** Oh, my. You really made me happy, what with all of those favs and follows. Really, really happy! Of course, those two comments has made me quite happy by itself. When I saw those things, the first thing I did was sit down and begin writing this next chapter, and even though life had it's way with me and got in the way of my writing, I finally got what I wanted and finished writing it. It's a bit long, but please bear with me until it's end! (:

* * *

Regina frowned. It took her around 30 minutes to finally stop seeing the hustle and bustle of the village she had left behind her. Her stallion walked the path before him without complain, seemingly more determined in this impromptu quest than herself. She sighed and reached inside her satchel, located comfortably behind the saddle to her left side. Regina fished the notebook from the bag and decided to take a gander at it.

At first she simply riffled through the pages, noticing that not too many pages were actually covered in writing. After reaching the end of the book and having a blank page stare at her, she closed the diary and reopened it at the first page. Something felt very odd in the pit of Regina's stomach as she gazed upon the words littering the page. She immediately recognized her own neat cursive handwriting, though a little smudged thanks to it being written in pencil as opposed to the pen she had used for the last 30 years while serving as Storybrook's mayor. Yet she could not for the life of her understand how and when she had written them, and so she began to concentrate on reading.

_'__Today my father had gifted me Samson. He is such a beautiful stallion, so majestic and fit for a knight of my stature! Of course, that is the reason for this lovely gift of his…_

_Being declared the top of my class in the ceremony today has made me feel such an unbridled joy, though it would seem silly that I should feel so at my age and with my high reputation.'_

"Always the best." Regina mumbled to herself, scowling slightly as her mother's face flashed itself across her mind's eye. She continued reading quickly to set her mind back to the task at hand.

_'__As father greeted me and patted me on the back, giving me nothing but words of pride and encouragement, I felt so happy I could burst. And then he surprised me further by leading me away from the congratulating crowd and placing this very diary in my hands, insisting that I write of all of my adventures as a knight of the kingdom so that I could share everything with him whenever I return home._

_I shed a few tears of joy at his words, not very knight-like, I know… however, as my dear father held me in his arms, he told me of this lovely stallion which he had spent the rest of his wealth on. I kept insisting I do not deserve this, all of his love and care, but he would hear none of it. Father has told me that the horse is called Samson, due to it having a never ending stamina and long, uncut flowing mane, just like the Samson of the stories._

_Now, father, I know that this diary is to hold my memories of my travels, however this day is one I wish not to forget, and so I selfishly wrote it for myself. __And please try not to read my diary whenever I come back and visit home__!'_

"So, Samson..?" Regina finished reading the page, sniffing harshly in mock indifference to return her composure at the sweet words written in her handwriting, and looked down at the horse. Playing his part perfectly, the stallion moved its head slightly to look back at her, not breaking stride as he does so. "That's your name, I presume." The stallion merely gave a sort of nodding with its large head before returning his view forward, making his vast white mane jump slightly and capture a bit of wind. "Well, at least now I have a name to call you." Regina said with a drawl as she flipped to the diary's next page and began reading the first line.

_'__It has been exactly one day since my knighting ceremony. I don't think I will ever get used to people calling me "Lady Regina" or "Milady"; I get giddy just thinking about it!_

_However, today the King called me to his side in order to give me my first order as a knight of his kingdom. Obviously, I donned my full armor and went to him at once. When I reached the King, he gave me the missing person scroll that the kingdom reprints every year, on the princess' birthday. The King told me of all the knights and princes who went in search of his cursed daughter only to never return. I listened carefully to his words, already knowing what it would be that he planned to ask of me._

_I was not surprised at this turn of events, being the best knight trained in this kingdom as of yet, and also being the first woman knighted. The King voiced his hopes that me belonging to the fairer gender might just make me succeed where others have failed, although not actually saying it with words as more hinting towards this subject. The only time he did refer to my sex did surprise me, as he claimed that upon success in retrieving his poor, cursed daughter, he would respect the promise he gave all those who went before me to this task and give the princess hand in marriage to myself._

_I was glad to hear his words, despite the surprise that most definitely graced my features in his presence. Well, relieved is more correct. I have met the princess herself only once, before her 18__th__ birthday, a day before she was kidnapped. I have seen all of her portraits and drawings since I was but a small child myself, she was definitely an attractive child growing up, only growing more with beauty with each passing year. However, nothing could compare to the beauty of seeing her in person.'_

"Christ, I hope that's not written about Emma. Please tell me that there is a different princess…" Regina glared at the diary as if the words she feared were written there would change themselves by the power of her vicious glare. Samson increased his pace almost unnoticeably at hearing Emma's name uttered from the lips of his rider.

_'__I have not told a soul of the day when I have met her, not even my most beloved father. It was a day which I could never forget. On the day before her 18__th__ birthday I was training in the woods in preparations for the King's choosing of the warriors, trying to increase my chances of being accepted to join his majesty's knighthood. I was just about to wash myself in the pond after that day's training session when I have spotted a slender frame lower herself into the water._

_I watched, mesmerized, as she submerged herself fully only to re-emerge a moment later, flipping her golden locks backwards to lie across her back. Cautiously, I gazed around the edges of the pond in search of a clue as to this girl identity, and as my eyes fell upon ragged robes thrown haphazardly on a large rock, I deduced this girl must be a peasant._

_Never one to be ashamed in her own skin, I decided that her presence should not hinder my own want for a wash, and made sure to make some noise as I approached the pond. I have pretended to not have noticed her until I have disrobed and turned around, only to find tentative green eyes peer at me from just above the water level, bright hair lightly floating around hidden facial features._

_I remember not how we started talking nor the minute details of our conversion, I cannot even point to the exact moment when I have realized that before me stood the princess herself, before pointedly ignoring this fact for fear that it would stop our conversations. I only remember how the girl introduced herself as simply Emma. And I definitely remember all of the small features that added to me beginning to fall in love with the young woman before me, including – yet not limited to – the cute way she had scrunched her nose whenever I spoke of something she did not fully understand.'_

Regina's eyes were wide as she could not tear them from those four small words; 'fall in love with'.

'Simply Emma? Cute? Fall in love? How on earth could that be true?'

Regina let out an exasperated huff as she closed the diary in her hand with some unnecessary force, causing a slight thump to sound out. Samson moved one ear backwards in response to her ministrations and she gave a sharp glare to his ear as if challenging him to call her out on her actions.

As the ear moved slowly back to its place, Regina shoved the diary back to the satchel and took hold of the reins once more, giving the horse a nudge with her heels and instinctively clicking her tongue to spur it forward at a greater pace. The stallion increased his walking, bordering on a slow trot, as Regina tried to make sense of the words she have read while at the same time trying to push them from her mind all together.

* * *

The sun was hanging low in the sky, just a few inches above the tree lines in the horizon, when Regina decided she should stop her riding. She still felt unsure about the words she read, unsure about her peculiar quest as a whole, unsure about her feelings on all those matters. She simply felt unsure. So she decided to do something she did feel sure about, and that's make camp for now.

She let her eyes go up to the tree lines in the distance, searching for the castle – her destination – and finding it seeming much closer than it was on the beginning of this mysterious day. The hill on which she knows the castle to sit now all but disappeared from view, and Regina assumed that she will reach it by the next day. She is not sure if she wants to smile or frown at the simple fact that by tomorrow she will see Emma. Her heart, though, flutters slightly inside her chest and she waves an irritable hand at this, as if her heart was simply an annoying fly she could just rid herself off easily.

She still does not wishes to linger on any line of thought that contains one Miss Emma Swan, and thus she go about making herself busy with clearing a patch of ground from rocks, removing her armor – which somehow feels much heavier by now than it really should have – and unsaddle the white stallion.

She goes through the motions of tying the reins of the horse to a nearby low hanging tree branch, and building a small fire pit to contain all of the dry leaves and twigs she could find in her near vicinity with an uneasy simplicity. It feels like second nature, as if it is something that she has done so many times before, and now she needs only to act on auto-pilot to complete this task. Yet it has been many decades since last she tended her own horse and Regina could never remember a time in which she has found the need to build her own fire, not when she could always just light one up with the simple flick of a wrist.

Feeling the hunger of the day suddenly fall upon her, she reaches inside the satchel, promptly ignoring the diary as she pulls out some dried provisions and begins chewing on it – blocking the taste all-together – as she flicks her wrist in the direction of the fire pit, intent on magically igniting the twigs and leaves. She stops mid-chew when this garners her no reaction. She furrows her brow and tries the action again, putting more concentration into commanding this simple spell than is probably needed, and removes the dried leafy piece of food from her mouth as she frowns.

No fire has suddenly appeared, and Regina closes her eyes to search within her the familiar pull of muscles and blood that comes every time she uses her magic. When no pull is being felt and no magic seem to sprout, Regina allows concern to cross her features.

"Well, that will most definitely cause me a problem." She mutters, moving to start the fire by hand, and send a worried glance back up at the castle.

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**A/N:** Thank you for making it this far! Comment are highly appreciated, more so if you feel I'm wronging the characters in any way. See you on the next instalment.


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